One Drop Foundation: Guy Laliberté

Written by  //  October 29, 2007  //  Sustainable Development, Water  //  2 Comments

BRAVO! A wonderful initiative from a Québec icon. Interesting that the announcement was not made in conjunction with the forthcoming Montreal Millennium Summit


October 29, 2007

Cirque founder drops $100 million for clean water

The founder of Cirque du Soleil, Guy Laliberté, pledged $100 million to fund a new foundation that will help provide fresh water to the world’s poorest countries. Laliberté unveiled the new One Drop Foundation in Montreal on Monday, saying it will improve access to water, ensure food security and promote gender equality in communities around the world.
“No one can remain indifferent when we know that at least every eight seconds, a child dies from a disease caused by drinking contaminated water,” Laliberte said in a statement.
With Laliberte at the announcement was Prince Albert of Monaco. His environmental group joined with One Drop after he befriended Laliberte after meeting him at a show in Monaco.
“Water issues transcend the boundaries of countries and affect the whole of humanity,” Prince Albert stated. “This is a major challenge of this century and it is essential that organizations throughout the world come together in a global movement of solidarity to ensure the preservation and better management of a resource that is both irreplaceable and fundamental to life.”
Gord Nixon, Royal Bank of Canada’s chief executive and Jeremy Hobbs, executive director of Oxfam International, are also part of the foundation.
The Royal Bank of Canada has pledged $10 million towards the project, whose first order of business was to provide Oxfam with $4.5 million to fund filtration systems and family farms in Nicaragua.
Laliberté will give $4 million for 25 years to the One Drop Foundation to fund projects to rebuild water wells and provide drinking water in poor countries.
“At Cirque we like to be inspired. The symbolic of water — source of life — is very inspirational when you want to think about a humanitarian cause,” he told CTV News.
The founder of the Montreal-based circus said over a billion people do not have access to water in sufficient quantity or adequate quality and that almost half of the world’s population drinks untreated water.  CTV

2 Comments on "One Drop Foundation: Guy Laliberté"

  1. Mr. Shour Reddy February 19, 2008 at 8:55 am ·

    We are very pleased to see the launch of the ” One Drop Foundation” Mr. Guy Laliberté to support the needy communities around the world.

    Bala Vikasa Social Service Society in India is a sister concern of SOPAR a Gatineau based NGO working for the development of the rural poor communities for the past 30 years. Providing safe water to the rural poor communities is one of main mission. We have reached more than one million people through our water programs. We have recently launched a water purification project to rescue the Fluoride affected communities in Andhra Pradesh Province. It is a very succesful model creating impact on the lives of the rural communities.

    We would be happy to collaborate with “One Drop Foundation” in reaching the most deserving communities.

    Please refer to our website http://www.balavikasa.org for more details on our water, gender, capacity building, environment etc. projects.

    Best wishes

    Mr. Shoury Reddy
    Associate Director
    Bala Vikasa Social Service Society
    1-1-867, Siddarthanagar

  2. George Charron March 14, 2009 at 6:03 pm ·

    I have just completed building a working prototype of a system that could help reduce worldwide water consumption and increase worldwide food production as well as help reduce the effects of global warming. The system uses a soilless growing method that reduces water, fertilizer, and pesticide useage while increasing growth rates. I do not have the facilities to do any real testing and am looking for some philantropist or non profit organization to assist me. I truely believe I have a viable system, but do not have the money or space to progess much further.
    My system is very simple and inexpensive to produce and has great potential as long as it stays out of the hands of the extemely greedy. I am not a company or group, but a single individual who is looking for the right group to align myself with. I have never applied for a grant or asked for assistance before, so please forward me to someone who could assist me.
    George Charron

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